While no invention similar to that herein proposed is known in the prior art, documents showing the state of the art related to the same are mentioned below.
Thus, document ES 2 063 070 T3 refers to an automatic device to make ice cubes, which includes a support frame for a plurality of aligned cups associated with an evaporator and arranged opposite to means for spraying water that will freeze, compression and condensation means, means associated to reverse the refrigeration cycle to separate the cubes from the cups, controlling means to vary the refrigeration time of the water suitable to form these cubes and the defrosting time of these cubes to separate them from the cups, said control means comprising, at least, one first probe to measure the temperature of the environment and/or of the output of such condensation means and, at least, one second probe to measure the temperature of the water entering the appliance, characterised in that such controlling means include, at least, one electronic board that contains a microcomputer which comprises at least two optical probes coaxially arranged on opposite sides with respect to, at least, one cup that has, proximate to each of these optical probes, at least two portions made of a transparent material.
To obtain ice cubes in public hospitality establishments, machines of small size, requiring about 2 liters of water to obtain 250 cm3 of ice are used, wherein the wasted water passes directly to the water drainage system. This implies, on the one hand, a remarkable waste of water, which can reach 80%, and on the other, an energy waste, since what is lost is cold water at a temperature of about 8° C. Hence, the utility model ES 1 022 297 U proposes an economizer, attachable to an ice cube maker machine to solve such a problem. To do this, the economizer consists of an auxiliary tank to which water usually discarded arrives through a filter, and from there, it is sent back to the ice cube maker machine, by means of a pump, at a relatively low temperature, in the order of the 8° C., which represents a considerably lower energy consumption, while the operational cadence of the same is greatly accentuated because the thermal difference which must be produced in said machine is substantially smaller, to the point that the approximately 16 minutes usually taken by an operating cycle of a conventional ice cube maker machine become ten minutes when the economizer of the invention is coupled to said machine.
Also the utility model ES 1 022 297 U proposes an economizer adaptable to ice cube maker machines, which comprises a reservoir, intended to be conveniently attached to the ice cube maker machine, and connected to the latter through an inlet, which corresponds to the discharge outlet of waste water of said ice cube maker machine, this inlet ending in a filter, while in the lower area of said reservoir an outlet is arranged, which, through a forcing pump with appropriate characteristics, is connected to the inlet or feeder of the ice cube maker machine, all so that the waste water of each operating cycle of said machine is reused through the economizer in the following operating cycle thereof.
Likewise, the objective of the document ES 2 199 641 A1 refers to technical improvements in ice cube maker machines ice for saving water, by producing a controlled recycling of the water flowing along the device. To achieve this, a probe or detector of physical variables together with a detector of water presence and an electric pump that pumps water to recycle it for further use in the machine are used.
Also the document DE-C-936042 describes an ice maker machine with an evaporator, a plurality of individual cells forming ice, a water dispenser and a deflector plate to direct the water that enters through the upper end of the ice-forming cell towards an inner surface of the cell, said invention including an evaporator having a plurality of individual ice-forming cells. Each ice-forming cell has a closed perimeter and an opening at a lower end. A water distributor is coupled to the evaporator and is configured to deliver water at or near an upper end of each of the plurality of individual ice-forming cells, so that the water flows down within the perimeter of the individual ice-forming cells. It also includes a water recirculation system including a drain, a water pump located inside the drain, and a water recirculation pipe coupled to the water pump and water dispenser.
Typically, known ice makers produce ice by making water flow on a frozen surface. Usually, the frozen surface is thermally coupled to evaporator coils which are, in turn, coupled to a cooling system. The frozen plate, or the evaporator, contains a number of notches on its surface where the flowing water can accumulate. Typically, the notches are punched holes in a metal plate of high thermal conductivity. As the water flows over the notches, it is frozen into ice. To collect ice, the evaporator is heated by hot steam flowing through the evaporator coils. Once released from the evaporator surface, the ice cubes are made and fall into an ice storage bin. The ice cubes produced by a typical ice maker have a square or rectangular shape and a slightly thin profile. Instead of having a three-dimensional cube shape, they are tile-shaped and are of reduced dimensions. That is, they are different from the ice cubes produced in residential refrigerators which typically have a cube shape and are larger, more suitable for cooling drinks in glasses, and which are usually held by tweezers. Most domestic ice makers, which are included in the refrigerators, freeze standing water resulting in turbid ice, which is less desirable than the clear ice commercially produced. Besides producing small ice cubes, conventional ice makers are typically large and bulky machines requiring a large amount of space. An ice maker for home use, on the other hand, requires a small base and a compact size that can fit under kitchen cabinet countertops typically found in domestic kitchens and must operate using electricity available at household electric current and voltage. Several ice makers have been developed and marketed for the residential market. Typically, these machines do not produce large clear ice cubes. There is one model which produces clear cubes, but uses an evaporator that is not totally reliable because it uses jets of pressurized water which tend to clog, particularly when no routine maintenance, which is absent or, in the best case, is performed infrequently in household ice makers. Therefore, there is a need for a compact ice maker capable of producing clear ice cubes, a machine that is reliable and compatible for both household and commercial use, and that can be constructed at a reasonable cost using automated technology. The present invention fulfils these requirements.